One Small Step For A Man, One Helluva of A Swandive For A Spartan
by ProcrastinationAtItsFinest
Summary: After intense shenanigans in the Milky Way, one thing led to another and the last member of Fireteam Crimson had been dumped into a new galaxy raging with war, crime and corruption. How will the spartan navigate through this perfect, more than convenient galaxy for a super-soldier?
1. Chapter 1

Prologue: Gearing Up

 **Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to the Halo or Star Wars franchises…f*** it, its fanfiction, it speaks for itself.**

 _Deep Space, the average Tuesday, August 16th 2558…_

The installation was as silent as the grave it was. It's metal walls never shone with the purpose it once had, the sentinels that once maintained it lay forgotten and lifeless. It had been this way for a long time now. No longer were its creators striding through its halls, no longer was the ancient Parasite roaming the galaxy as it once had in its insatiable hunger and unknown drive for destruction.

The Array had long since activated over 100,000 years ago, unleashing its unholy light across the Milky Way, cleaving away all sentient life and sufficient biomass that the parasite could have thrived off of, halting its advance through the stars to the rest of all creation but ultimately sealing the fate of the Forerunner Ecumene.

The reactor of the installation reverberated with power, humming to itself like some long-forgotten tune only it knew as the Forerunner settlement prepared.

A slipspace rupture had finally been detected only 4524 lightyears away. The last commandment of the Lifeshaper remained, the Mantle of Responsibility had been passed on to those the Librarian had deemed worthy in her intimate knowledge of the species she had nurtured and protected since their forced fall from grace through the Forerunners' arrogance and prejudice.

The Reclaimers had come.

" _Do us all a favour, whoever drops last gets to make sure the asses that take us out are dragged down with us!"_

 _Karl had said that as a joke, how could any of them had known?_

 _Grace and 'Livia had howled with laughter._

 _Idan just nodded and raised his glass with a chuckle._

 _Requiem stared out at the Infinity like it had discovered a colony of rats outside its door. Not entirely sure how that worked, but the intimidating presence the Shield World exuded was there. Its entrance shone, open and inviting with the promise of sweet, sweet Forerunner treasure and adventure awaiting them._

 _Like the honey trap it was._

"Idan?". The voice was muffled but he could hear that shit-eating grin anywhere.

Fantastic.

"Idan? Come on, wakey wakey! Nap times over you meatsack!"

Idan's eyes shot open, groaning, blearily shaking his head awake and wriggling his toes. "Santa? Unless its Christmas then there had better be a reason you woke me up this early".

Swivelling his head to the holopad across the room that held its smug god with his favourite weapon of terror like the plinth it was.

"As a matter of fact, Christmas came early this year but the sooner you're out of that pod and suited and booted, the faster I can let you run wild over to your presents!" Santa spoke as he waved his AI Overlord status over the Spartan-IV's head. Or his waist rather, he was still getting used to his comfortable, godly size of 6.8 feet.

Santa was weird, to say the least. For an AI it was expected, but Santa paraded his extra special weirdness wherever he went. What ramped that aspect up a notch was his chosen avatar. Instead of the average Smart AI that usually picked a more human persona, Santa decided a Sangheilli inspired Father Christmas was the way to go on his path towards being the most unique with as much eccentricity as possible, red hat and robes trimmed with white fur all the bloody way.

Regardless, Idan still appreciated the only friend he had. Anyone else who tried to talk to him somewhat friendly just came off as pitying or afraid of the ODST-…Spartan. That still took getting used to, but he would still wear that title with pride.

"Good grief mate, I don't know who the clever bastard was that gave you that name but I wanna break their fingers then hug them" Idan rumbled out, wincing in pain as the small smile of his cryo-frozen muscles strained to achieve the age-old expression.

"Ha! Good luck with that, as much as I want to see that happen I know there will be several layers of authorization I know you don't have the patience to wait to get and then wait to fill out first before you even get to his secretary". Santa chuckled out, tapping his foot to the beat of the holographic red piano he 'played' with even more holographic computer screens whizzing from left to right above him, even if it was just a prop for show to accompany the audio file that would probably explain the music. The image was still bizarre but welcoming.

Idan reached up and slammed his hand down on the release catch for the cryopod he was no longer trapped in. Stepping out onto the deck of the tiny cryobay with two resounding thuds, Idan jogged his way to the armoury, Santa deciding to follow the fun way, projecting two wings onto the damned piano and a propeller on the front like a dementedly festive biplane and swooped his way after his partnered organic and resident antisocial caveman.

Santa still remembered that day he had discovered and quickly chose his spartan. The reports had came in from both Fleetcom and the ONI Operative aboard the six-and-a-bit kilometre long UNSC flagship and scientific vessel Infinity. A single Spartan fireteam had went above and beyond in their duty when the mission to explore the Forerunner Shield World named Requiem went ever so slightly FUBAR for the Infinity and its personal fleet.

In one of the first missions down to the shelled planet, Fireteam Crimson had earned major brownie points by snatching the first piece of remarkably interesting Forerunner tech from the Covenant Storm that still lingered on like a disease that refused to just die and had made themselves at home on Requiem like fleas.

The recovered artefact had done something very interesting indeed when it temporarily EMPed the Infinity and anchored the flagship in place, connecting the colossal vessel to the Forerunner Planet. Crimson had immediately rectified their unintentional issue that was in no way their fault and had drenched the Forerunner installations and Covenant camps in blood.

They weren't skipping along to the merry tune of gunfire and armoured stomps. The entire team had casualties. Spartan Karl Foreman was crushed by a Covenant drop pod during a chaotic fistfight with a horde of Grunts, Spartan Grace Owens had died from impalement of a Promethean Knight's hardlight blade and finally Spartan Olivia Toomes had stayed behind to either delay or halt a Covenant battalion whilst Spartan Idan Vance hustled his way to the Forerunner equivalent of a telephone pole and engaged in aggressive negotiations backed by ten knuckles, a pulse grenade and a dream.

Spartan Toomes had been the only body recovered by the last member of the Fireteam.

 _Idan had discovered her mangled corpse being fought over by two Elites who wanted a trophy of their legendary achievement, the death of a human demon. The two elites wore the blue armour of a Minor and the purple of a Zealot._

 _The Zealot had won the lover's tiff and had begun tugging at Olivia's head, trying to discover a method that would release the helmet from its owner. The two religious bastards so enraptured by their prize that they failed to notice the whisper quiet footsteps of the Crimson Spartan. Followed by the hissing of a titanium alloy kukri unsheathing from a gauntlet and caught by the waiting hand of an emotionally compromised warrior._

 _The vengeful soldier reached up and slit the Minor's angled throat, stepping down from the makeshift foot ladder of the hingeheads's jointed knee._

 _The Zealot cursed as it fumbled with the helmet, the greedy idiot so absorbed in tugging, growling and over the send of 'Livia's constantly snapping neck and helmet slamming against her chestplate, he hadn't heard his comrade fall._

 _Fuelled by raw grief and hatred, Idan clamped his hand down with a vice grip around the back of the neck of the Zealot's chest plate, crushing the alloy. Idan, wasted no time with his window of opportunity open and presence made known and shot his kukri down into the centre of the sangheili's spinal column like a ballistic missile, just above his waist, crippling him below the torso._

 _The Elite howled in pain and fell to his hands and knees before his face crashed into the ground once his legs would be of use no more. Pawing at the ground, he threw himself onto his back with a wave of agony rushing in and settling down. It turned to observe his would-be murderer and saw the strangest sight._

 _The Demon that still lived was kneeling, cradling its kin, franticly glancing up and down the slain one's body, no doubt hoping beyond hope that that one could still be saved._

 _The Demon stopped its rushed movement, hanging its head and staring into the sky-blue visor of the fallen._

 _Then he heard it, growling._

 _The Demon looked to the Zealot, metal-silver visor directly to open, pain-filled eyes. Then the Demon spoke, not in one its native languages but in Sangheilli._

" _That was a mistake". The rumbling growls were still heard but the voice that spoke was monotone, cold and unfeeling. The Demon rose instantly, ripping its small blade out of the ground and stomped over to the Zealot._

" _I don't have much time, so we'll have to make this quick". The vengeful warrior slowly looked over the Elite, scanning him. Calculating, patient. Stopping at his feet, specifically on the four large toes and two heels._

" _Allow me to educate you on a part of my people's culture". It dropped to one knee, one hand propping the Elite's leg up, toes splayed like an arachnid's legs._

 _The Zealot may not have been able to move but it could still feel the iron grip and the rocks scratching its armour._

 _The dreaded blade that cut deepest rose up again like a guillotine before being placed directly over the left outermost toe. The demon placed a hand on the opposite side of the top of the horizontal blade._

" _Now, this little piggy went-"_

 _Pain exploded over the Elite's leg and it let out another blood curdling scream. Why wouldn't he just die? Was this a last test before meeting his gods? He would endure through the pain if he-_

 _The blade dropped down again, and the beast howled and whimpered._

 _Idan, through the red haze of his vision and the heat scorching his mind, remembered he was still on mission and he had a very short time before Fireteam Majestic finished shutting down their part of the anchor and the Requiem would fall out of Orbit._

" _Infinity, this is Fireteam Crimson. Primary anchor destroyed, awaiting pickup"._

" _Ah-affirmative Crimson, Pelican is on its way" Miller responded immediately, his voice shaking. Why, was he nervous? What could…it just occurred to him, his helmetcam had been online and transmitting since the Pelican dropped them off…_

 _Well…shit._

" _Snip-SNIP!" The blade fell again._

 _The ETA for the Pelican was still ten minutes away. Dragging the fallen spartan to the extraction zone would take at least three._

 _The Sangheilli beneath him still had several opposable limbs remaining. How tantalising._

 _Three toes down, 1 remaining, 6 fingers included plus thumbs._

 _He remembered the ships bar._

 _Laughter._

 _Drinks._

 _And a promise._

 _He had time._

 _Ample._

 _Amounts of time._

The ONI AI shredded away at the piano, each note sounding a different task completed, raw data of the installation flooding the Prowler's sensors. Screens of data whooshed past like the symbols in a Information, for Santa, was like a drug, there was never enough, he always wanted-NO, needed more.

His focus was divided into several views of what was most interesting at the time. The majority centred on scanning the Forerunner storage installation, a fraction on maintaining the ship, a larger fraction observing his spartan prepping them for exploring the structure.

Santa desperately wished he would go faster. Watching as he did final checks on the SAW machine gun, completely forgoing a second weapon in the interest of more drum mags to feed into the hungry beast.

"You know, we probably won't run in into any Covenant and the Brute packs don't have any reason to have a stronghold this far out of the Outer systems. Well…provided they don't know about this place, which I highly doubt since we efficiently dealt with the previous owners and they didn't get the chance to send out any copies to buddies out of town" Santa called out, drawing the spartan further out of his shell.

" _Oh, I know alright but it doesn't hurt to have something and not need it rather th-"_

" _And need it and not have it yadayadablablaboringboring-HURRY UP ALREADY!, I'm losing my mind here!" Santa exclaimed, overeager to finally get his three fingered mitts of data on the Forerunner data that the installation was drenched in, no doubt about that!_

" _Patience". Idan suggested, feeling peaceful with slotting round upon round into the drum mag._

" _How are you one for patience? I watched you suplex a Jackal just because it wouldn't come out of the corner while its shield was up"._

" _He was being a turtlefuck, he deserved it-and wait, hol' up a sec. We? You were backseat driving the entire time!"_

" _Just because you were a taxi for me doesn't mean I didn't have a hand in that!" Santa stated, removing one hand from the piano to wag a finger at his spartan._

 _Idan groaned, knowing this was a conversation he wouldn't win. The AI was a crafty bugger and had heaps of information and the processing speeds that delayed Santa's normal perception of time just to think on his next move._

" _Fine, okay then". he conceded, smiling freely now that he no longer felt like a frozen carcas on a butcher's hook. Idan placed the last bullet into the drum mag with a satisfying click and slammed the drum mag into the SAW. "Ready for your walkies now?" He grinned, at the 'screee' of excitement._

 _Idan owed a lot to the AI, ever since that small event of revenge on the Zealot and bringing back 'Livia's body and armour to the Infinity had been in deep shit to say the least. He was a bit of a social pariah when the video of the mission had made its way around the Spartans' entire deck known simply as "Spartan Town"._

 _Some of the other spartans approved openly when he avenged his teammate but the others were scared stiff and denied any chance of being in a fireteam with him so that lowered the number of fish in the sea for Idan. To top all that off, he had been threatened with a psych eval from the higher-ups in the UNSC which could very likely lead to him disappearing down a deep, dark hole for the remainder of his life._

 _He was faced with a highly likely dishonourable discharge and possible jailtime for committing war crimes, which was still debatable since it was the Covenant they were talking about and they had created the peak for the records of war crimes. Alongside that, he was emotionally compromised before that with Fireteam Crimson being picked off one by one and shattered with grief and rage._

 _That's where ONI had come in nonchalantly through the door to fix all his problems whilst creating new ones._

 _The Office of Naval Intelligence had been deeply interested in the Forerunner world and they had needed a spartan who was willing to work alone, was an extremely capable fighter with a smidge of a dark side. This was the perfect opportunity for them. They were planning on sending out teams of a single spartan paired with an AI and a Stealth Prowler to explore any Forerunner installations or worlds, learn whatever they could, snatch as much data and tech they could get their five-fingered guantlets on and destroy any possible hostiles found there. Any Flood in containment that were found were to be destroyed completely and safely to eradicate any chances of a third universal crusade to destroy all life._

 _Idan Vance, the Crimson Spartan, was their ideal operative. He had no family back home to worry about, no extensive list of friends that might come looking for him and flexible honour and a grey area of moral codes. He always got the job done._

 _How could he refuse?_

 _Captain Thomas J Lasky had been in the process of debating sending Vance to the brig for the remainder of the journey back home to Earth which included a lot of forehead rubbing and headaches when he had a stroke of luck for him and more than a twinge of sympathetic guilt._

 _The matriarch of ONI herself, Admiral Serin Osman had requested Spartan Vance come to Sydney, the main base of ONI for a one-on-one meeting._

Vance clamped onto the handhold braces of the BDU as the gyroscopic machine began to encase him in the armour he had come to appreciate both aesthetically and in use.

 _Thanks to the science teams of Infinity they had recovered a hefty trove of Forerunner data and ONI immediately began experimenting and playing with that information like children with lego. The moment he had signed the contract that confirmed his orders and sealed himself with a neat little sash stating 'I am now a a high class/maintenance slave that will be treated with respect and dignity while also being eligible for a firing squad if I attempt to leave without saying where I'm going and that I will indeed be back in time for curfew'._

 _Idan had been weighed, measured and tested, even going so far as to study his mission logs that came with helmetcam footage like devoted worshippers. All this to design and outfit him with the armour of a Forerunner Prefect, modified for human use. They had coloured it with the traditional ONI black and the visor silver, so much like his previous Warrior design of his MJOLNIR._

 _What made this armour very unique however, was that it was the debut of lots of experimental Promethean tech, all integrated and directly built into the armour instead of the old 'slap on and go' Promethean tech that were worn like reverse fanny packs and only allowed for one special function at a time._

 _The visor came with the 'Promethean Vision'(he was surprised they didn't come up with a more ONI-ish term) module built in like the other exciting stuff the visor did like polarising to protect the spartan's sight and managing the Heads Up Display._

 _What was easily the best part, was the armour itself. Prefect armour came with outstandingly carved lined grooves in the armour, which was part of the major style. THIS armour however, utilised those grooves for way more functionality. Useful,but what made the set extra pretty were the hardlight generators._

 _The generators produced panels of glowing and flowing-blue hardlight that filled those grooves and produced other hardlight panels that encased the alloy metal straps and bindings that held the armour onto the wearer's body._

 _These didn't just serve as extra body armour, the hardlight generators had more functions, something the ONI engineers had stressed to him. With assistance from Santa, the two could pull off some wild shenanigans to fit the situation ranging from, riot shields, dome shields, a big fookoff shield wall and whatever was required or came to mind at the time._

 _After that had been explained, Idan had initially thought they were done, then Santa just laughed as the Engineers dropped a large stack of documents and instructions for maintenance before starting up another explanation about the armour's other capabilities, including the very thrusters that would later be designed, developed and slapped on to the new wave of MJOLNIR GEN2, albeit slightly less effective compared to Idan's way more advanced and aggressive Forerunner variant._

 _Idan knew that the only reason he was getting armour this incredibly rare and powerful was because he was going on missions that while important could very quickly go tits up at a moment's notice, whether that would be a fresh outbreak of Flood that escaped from containment, Jiralhanae packs, Covenant and the various Forerunner constructs that might see him as the unwelcome house rat. If he was going to put up a fight, the armour would definitely amplify the body count he'd produce._

The shiny black helmet, held aloft by two gyroscopic arms was offered to the Crimson Spartan. Idan casually lifted the onyx helm with both hands and slid it on and around his metaphorically and literally thick noggin.

He strode over to the table and hefted the hardpack filled with nothing but drummags and explosives onto the magnetic holster on his back and grabbed the carry grip on the top of the SAW.

"Alrighty then, if you're finished putting your makeup on, we can get going now!" Santa no longer playing his piano like the devil himself and was now sitting on the front of it, arms crossed with one leg tapping…well, nothing except the imaginary floor of thin air.

"Yikes, are you gonna be this sassy the entire time?", Idan tossed over his shoulder as he passed by, on his way to collecting the AI from the cockpit.

"Very astute observation sir! I tip my fluffy, bobbled hat to you!" Idan heard from around the corner. "Unless we A: meet the Librarian herself, B: discover a way to convince fanatics on the faults of their religion or C: find a magical button to transfer all control over the Prometheans and all Forerunner to humanity whilst simultaneously burning away everything Flood related without the rest of us getting axed then you're goddamned right I'm gonna be the sassmeister that I am!"

Idan just grinned inside his helmet, glad his friend, secretary and tiny slave driver's antics wouldn't change.

"TAXI!", the door of the cockpit slid open and the glowing red core of Santa's data crystal-chip AKA glorified floppy disk popped up and out of the console of the Stealth Prowler like a curious meerkat. "Aha, my steed has arrived! Now, give me a yank and lets go exploring, Dora!"

Idan stopped dead in his tracks with wide eyes, specifically at the moment the phrase "give me a yank" invaded his ear drums. Shaking his helmeted cranium with a sigh, he pinched the chip with his thumb and index finger and pulled lightly, ejecting the AI and inserting it through the port in the back of his helmet and connecting Santa to his neural lace as a chill went through his skull.

"Ahhhh, contact!", Santa always enjoyed his rides in the MJOLNIR, they were WAY more exciting compared to the world of data he was used to. "Now, MUSH!", the sound of a whipcrack rang out, the AI signalling it was time.

"I really hate you sometimes".

"No you don't!"

"Yeah, you're right, you're way too adorable to stay mad at".

"Oooooh, you silver-tongued you!"

"Bloody hell".

"LANGUAGE!"

"You know, I wonder if the Master Chief ever had to deal with this with his AI", Idan mused".

"Doubt it, maybe on a lower level but Cortana was a lot more chill than I am before she jumped off the deep end into Rampancy". Santa said as the spartan braced himself against the wall, one leg balanced on it as they faced the airlock.

"Now, do this nice and smooth. I expect dramatic and cinematic results worthy of it's own movie once ONI finish head scratching at the footage when we get back". Santa remarked as he pinged the door to open in 15.

"When have I ever not outdone the legendary Tom Cruise? I'm already quite the movie star, the last one was such a success in the box office for FLEETCOM that your agents got us in contact!" Idan lowered down and enough power was added to the muscles in his legs that there was now a increasing dent in the wall of the UNSC Sleigh Ride".

"Technically I demanded them to since I'm such a fan".

The countdown dropped down to 10.

"You want an autogragh?

8…

"Nah I'm good fam".

6…

"You sure? Going once, going twice".

4…

"Positive".

2…

An ancient word of wisdom and power, offering solace in times of solitude returned. A word that instilled peace in the mind and offered awesome fortune and power prepared to ring out across the stars once more.

"YEET!" The demented duo yelled out in unison as they were shot out of the _Sleigh Ride_ like the slug from a MAC cannon towards the installation, the two giggling at the cohesiveness they had developed as the thrusters kicked in to control their momentum.

 **END OF PROLOGUE**


	2. Chapter 2

**One Small Step For A Man, One Helluva A Swandive For A Spartan**

 **Chapter 1: What in Fresh Hell Just Happened?**

 **On-Route to Forerunner Installation, Velocity? Really damn fast…**

 _Country Rooooads_

 _Take me hooooome_

 _To the place where I belooooong_

 _WEST VIRGINIA_

 _MOUNTAIN MAMAAAAA_

 _TAKE ME HOME_

 _COUNTRY ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOADS!_

…could be heard extremely quietly throughout the asteroid field as a small black silhouette went swooping past towards the large, silver-metal structure mounted onto the largest asteroid field.

That black shadow, of course was Spartan Vance. He and his AI were lazily cruising through the field of floating rocks as that speedy exit from their Prowler had provided more than enough momentum that Santa only had to apply precise firing of the thrusters to correct their course. No one wants to die from being lost in the cold vacuum of space without a ship, that would be just embarrassing.

The two had been singing along to a song by the great John Denver as Santa let the tune of his piano drift through the helmets speakers while the stars shot by and the Forerunner installation came ever closer. Santa had located the entrance (closely resembling a hanger bay) long before they had begun their explosive journey to the structure by the only species that had come close to Godhood.

As the song ended the two idiots shared a laugh before reality rushed back in the form of a metal floor slamming against them. Idan had been really into the song and had his eyes closed, Santa had noticed this window of opportunity back in the Prowler while Idan was conked out in a cryopod. The closer the structure came and his vicious grin grew wider with anticipation.

The spartan could take the hit most likely, thanks to the augmentations his body had undertaken a few years ago, and the armour was hypercompetent in its protection but just in case, Santa fired the thrusters in reverse to turn the oncoming slam into a mere bump to shake Idan back into focus.

"AHH SON OF A BITCH!" Idan shrieked, just in shock instead of pain. His eyes shot open towards the window of Santa's avatar on his visor and saw the AI slumped over the piano, shaking in mirth and guilty pleasure. "YOU".

"ME!", Santa shrieked back, imitating breathlessness as he had absolutely no evolutionary requirement for air, unlike some people.

"You planned that didn't you?!"

"Course I did, is that really surprising?"

"Nope, definitely not", Idan raised himself up to a kneel with his arms and looked around the 'hangar'. "Sooo…where's the door?"

"No idea".

"Wait, seriously?" Idan said in disbelief.

"Yeah seriously, I don't know. Start feeling about, maybe there's a doorknob".

"Right". Idan raised his hand to the hardpack on his back and took the SAW with arms lowered. "If I were the owner of a large Forerunner structure in the middle of nowhere, that was already a well-kept secret, where would I leave the keyhole?"

"Right out in the open with a glowing symbol that blinked rapidly?"

"My thoughts exactly". Idan set off with a strutting-march. The closer they got, the slower the symbol blinked. "You got a translation for that symbol?"

"I do indeed, it's Forerunner for 'Reclaimer', ONI used to think it meant 'human' but apparently the symbols are near-identical". They stopped in front of the door and the symbol stopped blinking, staring blankly back at them. "Well? What are you waiting for? The bear's not gonna poke itself". Idan reached out with hesitant fingers, barely grazing the metal before the wall slid open to reveal the corridor that lay behind it, light flickering on. "Well that wasn't creepy at all".

Idan nodded with agreement and marched on until they found another door, except this one opened the moment he came close. A Sentinel drone hovered behind it, the spartan shot into action and raised his SAW. "WAIT", Santa exclaimed, "It's not hostile!"

"Yet", Idan rumbled out. The Sentinel was different compared to the usual orange-glowing Prometheans, it was the usual Forerunner silver and grey, except it glowed blue, like they had on the Ark and Requiem so long ago.

Suddenly, a blue beam emitted from the Sentinel and ran up and down the spartan. Idan tensed up when the Forerunner drone started but quickly relaxed once it finished with a chirp. "Well then, that just happened. Hey there, little…guy?"

The Sentinel chirped again as it slowly moved down the passage before looking back at him. "Santa, my creep-o-meter just went from 0 to 60". The sentinel kept staring at them before it did something completely human, it tilted its floating chassis towards and down the corridor in a clear 'come hither' gesture.

"Might as well follow it, hasn't done anything yet".

"YET. Keyword here is YET".

Idan walked down the hallway, SAW lowered but ready to be raised should anything happen. The Sentinel, ever patient, waited until the Reclaimer had caught up and it matched pace with them, leading them further down into the Library.

"Okay. What. The. Fuck.", Santa let out in monotonous shock. They had been following the Sentinel he had decided to name Steven for half an hour now and now they were standing in one of the largest, sketchiest rooms they had ever had the misfortune to witness.

Several Promethean soldiers ranging from Crawlers, Watchers and to Knights were lining the outline of the room. Only, none of them were the standard Promethean orange. They all glowed blue and they weren't attacking, no guns raised or aggressive shivers, they just stood there, watching Idan. A large blue platform lay in the centre of the hall.

"Well, we're dead if we try anything and we might be dead anyway", Idan huffed out in frustration with worry that added up as time went by.

Steven the Sentinel, their unofficial tour guide, started flying gently into his back, nudging him in the direction of the platform. Idan, seeing no other solution to continued survival walked towards it. He stopped before he reached, several metal rings had risen up around the platform with an opening in front, right in his path.

"Shiiiiiiiiiit…Uh Santa? What do we do?"

"I've got nothing, boss. Either death by Prometheans or unknown fate by unknown Forerunner machine, take your pick. Just remember there's two of us in here and I would very strongly like to live much longer towards the end of my lifespan".

"Please don't remind me of that, we'll cross that bridge when it comes. Together", Idan shivered. Smart AI's only had a time of 7 years after 'birth' before they started to fall apart. They would eventually and slowly lose their minds and literally think themselves to death. Idan had no desire to see that happen, he couldn't bear watching not only his, but also his only friend's life come crashing down around them. He'd already lost so many people in the war and on Requiem, the ODST he used to be, couldn't help forming attachments and friendships with the soldiers he fought with. From Reach to Earth, from Earth to the Ark and finally to Requiem. It tore him apart every time it happened.

"It's inevitable but just promise me you'll find something to do with your life, don't shut everyone out. I only just got you out of your shell, you know!", Santa trying to change the subject, thinking about one's death was already super depressing, he swore to himself that he would make the most out of it and he'd keep Idan safe.

Once they reached the ringed machine, a spartan-waist high pillar rose up and out of the ground. Idan stopped before it and ran his hand down the front of it, finding exactly what he thought he would. A slot, roughly the size of an AI chip.

"Ooooooh, what do we have here?", Santa's curiosity was already aroused but now the urge was painful, "Plug me in, do it now!"

Idan, without many other options and not in the mood to have an irate AI pissed off with access to the speakers and locked inside the helmet with his sensitive ears in there too, immediately reached for the back of his helmet as the dual-plates that covered the port slid open and to the sides, granting his fingers access to Santa's very essence. He pulled and hesitantly inserted Santa into the podium.

Instead of Santa's hologram flaring into being on the podium, there was just swirling energy like a miniature sun with Santa's usual red colouring. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get in there!"

Idan took another look around, the Prometheans were still staring him down but now there were several Knights standing in front of him, facing the door, almost protectively. "Well, if they wanted us dead they wouldn't have wasted this much time", he said with a shrug and turned back to the rings and stepped in. Suddenly, he seized up as energy enveloped him and lifted him off the ground, his vision blacked out and his body relaxed.

The Prometheans collectlively hummed with approval and encircled the machine that held the Reclaimer and his ancilla, all facing out towards the entrances to stand vigil.

Across the stars, the Corrupted Ancilla and her Warden halted their plans involving the Guardians in shock and looked towards the wall, exactly in the direction of the Lifeworker Installation that activated autonomously. The Warden started to gather sufficient Prometheans and prepared for Slipspace travel, determined to discover the cause of this anomaly.

He felt warmth on his face, touched with a light breeze. He heard birds, trees rustling in the wind and…piano music and humming?

SANTA!

Idan's eyes shot open and saw a sky, an all too familiar sky. A light blue sky that clouds lazily drifted across. He slowly raised himself into a kneel, seeing grass beneath him and rubbed his eyes…wait, his eyes?! He patted both of his hands around his head, feeling and confirming, yup, his helmet was gone.

He stood up in the long grass for a better look. He was on a coast! Nurtured plantation swayed around the perplexed spartan, an ocean was to his left and he could see ships! Wooden with sails and everything! Only these looked archaic, far different to ones he'd seen in educational holovids and some of his favourite movies, ancient classics involving pirates.

"Santa? You here, bud?", Idan called out.

"Over here!", he heard from his right.

Idan spun around and saw something he'd thought impossible. A large-as-life Santa sat there at his piano hunched over, eyes closed and swaying to the gentle music, all without a projector to show off with. Idan sped over to him but before he could talk, Santa beat him to it.

"Someone needs to speak with you.", Santa said calmly, throwing one fist over his shoulder with a single thumb outstretched behind him, pointing.

Idan glanced in that direction with puzzled eyes and went rigid in shock. A tall being sat in the grass, long silver dress flowing with a silver headdress floating about her head like hair. He knew her, Santa had been obsessed with talking about once he'd finished studying through the information that ONI had gathered from the Forerunner machine designated _Catalogue_. It had records, history and information all about this very Forerunner in front of him.

Santa spoke again, still playing but now reading through the information on the floating holoscreens that levitated above the piano like a musician's scripts. "Go, we'll compare notes and gush about this like schoolgirls later".

Idan, on autopilot as he went through this out of body experience, just nodded and slowly walked to the Great-Mother, the very being that was undeniably the closest thing Humanity had to a caring god, whether they knew it or not.

"Hello, Reclaimer". The Librarian turned to face him, a gentle smile as she looked up to him. She had been looking down from atop her seat on the hill proudly, watching as the settlement of humans below went about their lives, inventing, foraging, learning, all of this at an astonishing pace. Such short lives yet resolving to doing all they can with the time they had, this was one of the many reasons she believed Humanity was meant for the Mantle.

"I…I…", Idan at a loss for words, feeling self-conscious and nervous before the ancient Forerunner before him and dropped to both his knees, now noticing the village of his surviving kind below and looked to the one responsible. "Thank you…for everything you did for us" He noticed she held something in her hands, black, curvy and shining…his helmet.

"It was my honour…and apology, for everything my kind did to yours. What we did was wrong, had we known the results of our actions we might have found another solution and done things differently", stroking the helmet of a Forerunner Prefect and looking into the visor, "…the Forerunners might have survived the Flood".

The Librarian patted the ground next to her. "Please sit, we have much to discuss with so little time". And so, she spoke for a long, long time. The Human-Forerunner war, Humanity's discovery of the Parasite and attempts to cleanse it, the Forerunner's de-evolution of Humanity, stripping them of their deserved right to be a space-faring species and exile to Charum-Hakkor (now known more simply as Earth), what the Mantle of Responsibility truly meant, to safeguard life across the galaxy and finally the reason he was brought here.

Idan sat through this in shock and respectful silence, only asking questions when she paused, never interrupting as understanding and enlightenment dawned on him.

"Reclaimer…Idan, your kind has always been adept at war and their ability to learn through conflict, even now your kind succeeded in their endeavours to survive against the Covenant, the Flood and my husband. But your progress is impeded, another trial must be undertaken, the ancilla of the one that came before you had been corrupted with the Logic Plague by the Gravemind, I could sense it when they met me, long ago on Requiem, I was going to give to them what I will give to you soon back then but the Didact prevented me from doing so. Humanity will ascend to the Mantle…

Before she could finish, a slipspace rupture echoed out across the land around them and a gargantuan, horrifying machine swooped in from the portal and assembled itself, blocking out the sun as its wings fanned out and a dull roar reverberated across the coast.

"She's found us! Spartan, you must leave!", the Librarian shrieked franticly and shot to her feet alongside Idan, thrusting his helmet into his chest as his hands wrapped around it. "Take my gifts and go! Humanity must continue without me!", She spoke as she placed a hand on Idan's shoulder.

Idan, like the soldier he was, shifted into his analytical mindset and slammed his helmet back down onto his head and his vision blacked out again.

The Warden Eternal and his contingent of Promethean Soldiers stepped out from the slipspace rupture, the arrogant Promethean leader swivelled his gaze across the Atrium and notice a substantial dent in the floor, roughly 4 inches deep and 6.8 metres wide.

The Warden immediately sprinted down the open corridor and saw something far too cruel. The Gateway of Ascension was online… and was now being tainted with the filth of a HUMAN! Even worse, it wore the armour of a Prefect and there were already Prometheans there! None of them were trying to stop it, were they protecting the human? Impossible!

Humanity were not meant the Mantle! His master, The Didact knew this and so did Cortana. "Stop him!", he boomed to the Prometheans, even if none listened, the traitors! He raced toward the ringed platform, sweeping Knights and kicking Crawlers out of his path as he reached out to rip the disrespectful creature from the Gateway and crush him in his fist.

Then the Gateway's defence subroutine kicked in and released a shockwave of energy, hurtling the Warden Eternal across the room. The Gateway powered down as it lowered the Reclaimer back down to the ground, leaving him in a kneel held up only by his fist. Its purpose was finally accomplished, The Mantle of Responsibility was finally Reclaimed.

One moment Idan was standing on an ancient coast with the most compassionate Forerunner ever born as he slammed his helmet back on, next he was back in the hall, kneeling. He saw nothing except silver metal, as he looked up he saw the largest Promethean ever seen, staring him down. Huh, at least this one is the normal orange.

The Spartan stood to his feet and every Promethean in the room, Big-boi and his orange henchmen included, either bowed their heads or kneeled before him. He immediately retrieved Santa from the terminal and inserted him back into his helmet. Strangely, Santa didn't speak, either he was still processing that information and recovering from post-orgasmic bliss from the massive information upload or he was in reset-mode.

Seeing the compliance and loyalty of the Prometheans that now served him, he set off at a pace towards the orange newcomers. As he walked, a familiar Sentinel floated beside him, showing him the security recording of the leader's intrusion of the 'Atrium' and attempted interruption of Idan's 'Ascension'. "Hmm, what to do with you…thank you Steven", he spoke to the Sentinel as it chirped at the praise before he stopped as he reached his destination, "What's your name, Sonny-Jim?", he asked/ordered to the large one that held itself up on its hands and knees.

Just because he was chosen to be the Forerunner equivalent of a galaxy-wide judge, jury and executioner didn't mean he had to let go of his humanity like the Forerunners had done when they became ever-serious and arrogant with their stolen title.

Unbelievable.

The human had not only succeeded but the Warden had failed Cortana! And now he was held captive.

"I-I…", he groaned in shame, "I am the Warden Eternal, I stand in service to Cortana and her people!", he spat out at the human, defiant to the last.

The human just stared back, hands on hips, a human expression that he was unimpressed. "Oh, do you now?", then it nodded and stepped closer to stare the humbled and immobile Warden in the eyes, "Well, there's been a change in management, now…", the human clapped his hand upon the Warden's shoulder as he kneeled before him, "…now you serve me".

The Forerunner AI felt mental pain crashing into him at all sides, crushing any attempts to resist for a time as logic and instinct demanded he submit to the Reclaimer! Then the Warden's mind divided. The Warden Eternal had millions of bodies and the Domain connected them all, he always had a backdoor, always a way out! But the dominance of this Reclaimer-his Reclaimer, forced him to stand and serve.

The Warden that wanted to serve Cortana fled across the Domain while the Warden that stayed loyal to the Mantle of Responsibility, remained with his Reclaimer, submitted and the orange hardlight changed to blue, like the loyal Prometheans around them.

"I see it now, I understand…forgive me, Reclaimer".

The Guardian that orbited the Installation, ever loyal to Cortana and unaware of the shift in leadership, sensed the Warden Eternal's defeat inside the structure and began to power up its 6 beam cannons, intent on destroying the installation and the rebellion inside it.

"Good", Huh, easier than I thought..what a bitch, "Santa you back yet?" No response. Well shit. The Spartan looked around the hall at his new dominion and he thought it…bloody fantastic. Giddy with adrenaline, he barely felt the vibrations in the floor as the structure shook around him.

"Oh, Sweet Lord Above, what the hell was that?!", He yelled, and Steven the Sentinel, ever helpful, displayed a screen that showed the exact same flying metal behemoth from the meeting with the Librarian, waiting out in the asteroid field, laser beams out to impact and burn away the Installation. "Damn…", he looked directly at the legend that was Steven, "Remind me that you deserve either a promotion or reward if we're both still alive in the foreseeable future". The Sentinel beeped and chirped once more.

Suddenly, the Prometheans glowed blue and vanished back into slipspace, Steven too. "Fuckfuckfuckfuck", was the mantra he muttered in rapid repetition and nervousness, "SANTA NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO WAKE UP, I NEED YOU RIGHT NOW!"

Then like the eerie voice of God, Santa finally spoke up, distorted as he may be and still not fully recovered, "…e…need to go! …THrouGh there go!" A slipspace portal exploded into existence in the centre of the hall as the ceiling started to collapse and a dull, booming base was heard, steadily ramping up.

Idan didn't need to be told twice and immediately hoofed it as the floor started to become a downhill slope towards the portal and promptly jumped with arms outstretched as the dull bass-boom turned into a violent explosion just before he made it through.

The pulse the Guardian released as it vanished back into slipspace, grazed the spartan's personal portal before it could close up behind him and caused it to malfunction, time stretched, stars shot past the Crimson Spartan went blurring past before everything went black…for a third time today…

The battle was not going well for the Republic on Christophsis, the droid army of the Separatists were endless, and the deaths of their clone forces kept adding up with no end or reprieve in sight. _We need to retreat_ , Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi thought but before he could open his mouth to shout the order to his troops, a roar immediately screamed across the battlefield and the sky ripped apart above them in blue and red lights, before a black object came blasting through towards the ground from the tear in reality itself as the colourful tear in the sky closed up again.

This immediately caused a sudden stop to the battle as either side looked on in confusion.

 _What was that_ , "Binoculars now!", he called out and a single clone in the generic white armour, came running up to hand him what he asked for.

"Thank you", he raised the block that enhanced the user's vision came up to his eyes and he zoomed in on the crash site…directly in front of enemy lines!

A tall, armoured figure rose up on shaky legs before it stumbled back to its hands and knees. Kenobi couldn't tell if it was a droid or a living being, so he decided against ordering the troops to continue bombarding the new entity's position.

"Sir, orders?", Commander Cody asked him in the same amount of confusion he was in.

"Hold fire unless the droids don't, I don't know who or what that thing is, but I sense that we'll have our answers soon enough".

His head felt like it had been placed inside a blender upside down before someone turned it on and added salt. Eager to find out what in fresh hell just happened, Idan staggered to his feet before collapsing back into a crouch when he found his balance was currently on a drunken binge and would need time to sober up again.

"Santa, I have no idea what you just did but we're still alive, so we can say your plan was a success, at lea…."

"FREEZE!"

"YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!"

Oh…

He looked up to see a literal army of tan-bony figures standing above him with black rifles pointed directly at his chest. They were metallic, and he could see an antenna poking up from behind some of their backs.

Oh…

He turned his head to look behind him and saw another army, this time with white armour and black rifles, their black weapons were lowered in ready position and they were all watching him, adding to his stage fright and definitely boosting his confidence.

Oh…

Judging by the bodies of white soldiers and tan robotic drones (all practically identical to their respective side), he developed a solution Einstein would have puzzled over for a long time while Archimedes would have taken one look at it and given up immediately.

He had dropped directly into a warzone, a definitely ongoing one…

Idan heard clicks sound up from the robots again.

Oh…oh dear.

"OPEN FIRE", and his visor saw red.

END OF CHAPTER ONE


End file.
